Exciting New Year
New Year, lots of exciting new things for 2016...
I am a great believer in writing things down (obviously)... I think if you write things down that you intend to do then you are much more likely to achieve them.
Looking back at my new year's resolutions for last year - I have pretty much achieved them. You have to pay attention to the wording though - for example I haven't really 'done more pilates' - too vague, what classes as more? And the vague ones also leave you open to being able to say you've done that, when you haven't really done what you intended, but it fits what you wrote. For example by 'doing more pilates' you might have meant to do it once a week, most weeks. What you actually did was the odd exercise in your living room every few weeks (which made no difference at all) but techincally you still 'did more more pilates.' So in this spirit here are my specific writing/writing related New Year's Resolutions...
This year my main focus will be on the indirect sequel to Futurespan, which I am very excited about. I have over 50,000 words, and with my new more portable laptop (thanks Mum!) and wrist supports :/ I hope to have a first draft completed by May. Hopefully it will be finished and fully edited by this time next year. It will tell much more about the world of Futurespan, from a unique angle you might not be expecting. But I hope you will love it as much as me once it's done. It will form part of a two/three book set that will have a continuous story. They will all link to Futurespan but not in the continous way a traditional sequel would (however you might bump into some familiar characters...).
Also I will obviously be spending time doing new and exciting authorly things since I will actually have a published book - so surreal still. But I will be doing some signings/attending some events that sort of thing. And spreading the word about my book far and wide. Running some competitions to win cool Futurespan stuff, and books. And all of the online stuff that goes with being a new author in 2016. Lots to do!
If I have any spare writing time, or wrist strength I will turn some of my attention to my other novel The Keepers of the Keys which I have over 70,000 words of already. I left it alone to focus on the Futurespan sequel, and because it was becoming a bit of a monster as I call it - tonnes of characters, lots going on, but still with gaps. It needs a bit of breathing space then I will return to it whole-heartedly, and it will eventually be at least two books, probably more.
And if all that - as well as a full-time job I might add, and all the other life-stuff - wasn't enough I am also planning a very exciting new project for 2016. It isn't a book (I have enough of those to worry about, as you can see) but fellow writers will be very interested I think. So watch this space. (Sign up for my email updates below if you want to be one of the first to know my news.)
So whatever your writing aspirations please don't let your resolution be to 'do more writing.' What writing? How many words? First draft/finished? Ten short stories? Be specific, and I think you'll be much more likely to be able to look back and have achieved what you actually wanted to.
Alll the best for 2016 in writing, and life-stuff :).
